Mary Jo Balistreri

Have I dragged the cold
from the Midwest to the tropics?
Shivering in a winter jacket
I look for alligators of years past,
babies boarded on their backs.
What I see are snout nose turtles
shells camouflaged in duckweed.
There are other signs of change,
the beaches filled with dead fish,
the strongest red tide in years.

Experiencing
these extreme weather shifts,
we blame it on global warming,
explain how arctic winds weakened
at the pole spill southward,
the polar vortex wobbles like a drunk,
tumbling cold air into Florida.

The wind blows me out to sea
and white caps chill with this frigid news—
carbon footprints are yours too.